Multistage ore deposition at the Oued Mekta strata-bound lead deposit, Touissit-Bou Beker District, eastern Morocco

Dupuy, Jean-Jacques; Touray, Jean-Claude

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.81.6.1558

Cited by 7 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The geology of the Touissit-Bou Beker district has been well described by numerous investigations (Voirin 1965;Samson 1973;Touahri 1991;Rajlich 1983;Dupuy and Touray;Makhoukhi 1993;Bouabdellah 1994;Torbi and Gélard 1994;Ajaji et al 1998;Aboutahir 1999;Bouabdellah et al 1996aBouabdellah et al , b, 1999Bouabdellah et al , 2001Bouabdellah et al , 2012Bouabdellah et al , 2015. Only a summary of the main conclusions relevant to the present study are given below.…”

Section: Geological Settingsupporting

confidence: 56%

“…However, in spite of abundant available geological, mineralogical, and geochemical data (Rajlich 1983;Dupuy and Touray 1986;Makhoukhi 1993;Bouabdellah 1994;Bouabdellah et al 2012Bouabdellah et al , 2015, the basic questions of genesis remain controversial with proposed models ranging from syngenetic to epigenetic. The lack of minerals suitable for radiometric age dating, together with the omnipresence of post-ore oxidizing events, have left the age of Pb-Zn mineralization as the subject of ongoing debate, and therefore any robust genetic model open to controversy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geology, Geochemistry, and Current Genetic Models for Major Mississippi Valley-Type Pb–Zn Deposits of Morocco

Bouabdellah¹,

Sangster²

2016

Mineral Resource Reviews

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Morocco has been for the past two centuries one of the top ten Pb-Zn producers with two thirds of base-metal production derived from three major Mississippi Valley-type districts (Touissit-Bou Beker, Upper Moulouya, and Jbel Bou Dahar). Collectively, these districts have produced more than 100 Mt of ore at an average grade of *3 wt% Zn and 4 wt% Pb. At the present time, none of the three districts is active. favorable fluid channels for metal-bearing brines into permeable host rocks and dissolution structures. The geometry of the orebodies that parallel the major alpine faults, coupled with lead isotopic constraints, suggest that the MVT mineralizing event occurred during midle Tertiary time (i.e., Cretaceous to Miocene) coincident with closing stages of the Alpine orogeny in the Atlasic orogenic belt. Alpine mineralization is thought to have been promoted by the mixing of older, high-temperature, rock-buffered, dense brines stored within the Paleozoic basement, and a downwelling, cooler fluid probably of meteoric origin. The resulting mixed brines were centered mainly on the basement high structure and its flanks, then flowed laterally away from the basement high and giving rise to the lower grade mineralization of the distal prospects. Fluid migration towards the ore districts could have been achieved either by a gravity-driven system (Touissit-Bou Beker, Mibladen, and Jbel Bou Dahar) or sediment compaction in the foredeep (Jbel Bou Dahar), or a combination of both. An alternative buoyancy-driven fluid convection model is proposed for the Touissit-Bou Beker MVT mineralization.

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Section: Geological Settingsupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology, Geochemistry, and Current Genetic Models for Major Mississippi Valley-Type Pb–Zn Deposits of Morocco

Bouabdellah¹,

Sangster²

2016

Mineral Resource Reviews

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“…1) for which an MVT affiliation has been clearly established (Rajlich, 1983;Dupuy and Touray, 1986;Makhoukhi, 1993;Bouabdellah, 1994;Aboutahir, 1999;Bouabdellah et al, 2012). Prior to this study, the only lead and sulfur isotope work on the TouissitBou Beker ores was by Rajlich (1983), Touahri (1991), and Bouabdellah et al (1999Bouabdellah et al ( , 2012, who presented limited data for sulfide minerals from the El Abed, Bou Beker, Mekta, and Beddiane deposits (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Fluid inclusion measurements, together with Na-Cl-Br leachate data, indicate that the ore-forming fluids correspond to evolved NaCl-CaCl2-KCl-MgCl2, basin-derived, hot (100° ± 20°C), saline (>20 wt % NaCl equiv) brines (Dupuy and Touray, 1986;Makhoukhi, 1993;Makhoukhi et al, 2003 Fig. 2.…”

Section: Geologic Setting Of the Touissit-bou Beker Districtmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…It is well established that at temperatures of less than 200°C, such as those that characterize the Touissit-Bou Beker mineralizing system (Dupuy and Touray, 1986;Makhoukhi, 1993;Aboutahir, 1999;Bouabdellah et al, 2012), dissolved organic ligands form stable aqueous complexes with metal and other inorganic species, thus enhancing their transport and subsequent deposition (Kharaka et al, 1985;Giordano and Kharaka, 1994). However, if organically derived sulfur was involved in the mineralizing process in the district, its contribution would have been very limited, as suggested by the presence of few oil-bearing fluid inclusions (Makhoukhi et al, 2003;Bouabdellah et al, 2012) and the ineffective sluggishness of organically related reaction kinetics at low temperatures (Ohmoto and Rye, 1979).…”

Section: Origin Of Reduced Sulfur and Implications For Ore Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Touissit-Bou Beker Mississippi Valley-Type District of Northeastern Morocco: Relationships to the Messinian Salinity Crisis, Late Neogene-Quaternary Alkaline Magmatism, and Buoyancy-Driven Fluid Convection

Bouabdellah¹,

Niedermann²,

Velasco³

2015

Economic Geology

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The Touissit-Bou Beker Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) district of northeastern Morocco includes five major strata-bound Pb-Zn-Ag deposits that produced, over a century of mining, more than 70 Mt of ore at an average grade of 4.0 wt % Pb, 3.5 wt % Zn, ~1 wt % Cu, and 120 g/t Ag. Economic orebodies are hosted by a 25-m-thick sequence of unmetamorphosed, flat-lying, diagenetically and hydrothermally dolomitized carbonate platform rocks of Aalenian-Bajocian (174-168 Ma) age. The sulfide mineralization consists principally of galena and sphalerite, and occurs as open-space fillings and partial to massive replacements of medium-to coarse-grained dolostones.Throughout the district and surrounding prospects, sulfur isotope compositions of sulfide minerals range from -8.6 to 12.9‰ CDT (n = 194) and display spatial and temporal variations characterized by an overall progressive decrease of d 34 S values: (1) with advancing paragenetic sequence, and upward stratigraphic position; (2) toward distal prospects; and (3) within single grains from core to rim. Similarly, the distribution of 3 He/ 4 He ratios shows an overall lowering from 0.5 RA to <0.01 RA with advancing paragenetic stage. Conversely, lead isotope compositions of galena display fairly uniform 206 Pb/ 204 Pb (18.31-18.37), 207 Pb/ 204 Pb (15.61-15.66), and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb (38.45-38.62) ratios, which contrast significantly with the highly heterogeneous isotopic compositions ( 206 Pb/ 204 Pb = 17.76-18.49, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb = 15.61-15.70, 208 Pb/ 204 Pb = 37.76-39.55) shown by potential metal source rocks.The large variations in d 34 S values are explained in terms of inorganic and/or bacteriogenic reduction, at different rates, of seawater sulfate in seawater or pore fluids, in reservoirs both open and closed with respect to sulfate. The highly variable 3 He/ 4 He values reflect different degrees of mixing between mantle and crustal He components along the fluid flow path. Estimated contributions of the mantle-derived ( 4 He) component involved in the mineralizing fluids of the paragenetically early Zn-rich ore-stage I, and in the later Pb-rich main ore-stage II, are in the range of ~3 to 8%. With time, the mantle-derived input to the mineralizing fluids decreased, and contemporaneously the involvement of surface waters increased, consistent with the lowering of d 34 S with advancing paragenetic stage. This geochemical evolution toward lower isotopic values indicates that the Touissit-Bou Beker hydrothermal system became exclusively dominated by crustally derived fluids, and probably incorporated at shallower levels the influx of progressively larger volumes of cooler, dilute, and oxidized meteoric waters.Whole-rock and galena lead isotope compositions are consistent with a model in which metals were extracted from the local country rocks, particularly the basement Visean rhyodacites and associated siliciclastic rocks, and from the overlying Triassic to Upper Bajocian sediments. The extraction of lead likely occurred during the late Neogene, coincident with the Messin...

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North African Mississippi Valley‐Type Deposit and Its Link with the Alpine Chain Evolution

BOUABDELLAH

2023

Metallic Resources 2

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Multistage ore deposition at the Oued Mekta strata-bound lead deposit, Touissit-Bou Beker District, eastern Morocco

Cited by 7 publications

References 4 publications

Geology, Geochemistry, and Current Genetic Models for Major Mississippi Valley-Type Pb–Zn Deposits of Morocco

Geology, Geochemistry, and Current Genetic Models for Major Mississippi Valley-Type Pb–Zn Deposits of Morocco

The Touissit-Bou Beker Mississippi Valley-Type District of Northeastern Morocco: Relationships to the Messinian Salinity Crisis, Late Neogene-Quaternary Alkaline Magmatism, and Buoyancy-Driven Fluid Convection

North African Mississippi Valley‐Type Deposit and Its Link with the Alpine Chain Evolution

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